Best Pokemon Go Giovanni Counters October 2022: How to defeat the Team Go Rocket boss

By Rob Leane

Published: Thursday, 20 October 2022 at 12:00 am

The Team Rocket boss Giovanni is a hell of an opponent in Pokemon Go – especially as he changes his tactics every month. You can never just rest on your comfortable laurels when taking him on.

Giovanni appears after you defeat several Team Rocket Grunts to be awarded the Rocket Radar. Use the Rocket Radar to locate Giovanni in order to take him and this so-called syndicate down.

You will need a strong Pokemon team to defeat Giovanni. This team will need to be filled with the right Pokemon, as any old ‘mon won’t do the trick here. Some tactics are needed to best this boss.

Read on for the best tactics and counters to defeat Giovanni in Pokemon Go in October 2022.

Best Giovanni counters for Pokemon Go in October 2022

As with each of the major trainer battles in Pokemon Go, your fight with Giovanni will last for three rounds. He always uses the same first and last Pokemon, but there are three options he might choose from in that second stage in the middle. This is what you can expect to go up against, and what Pokemon types you’ll want in each round:

First round:

Second round:

Third round:

Looking at those Pokemon listed together, a few patterns emerge which could help you put your battle party together. We’d recommend bringing a powerful Water-type Pokemon like Blastoise or Mega Slowbro (to deal with Nidoking, and Rhyperior. Mega Slowbro’s dual power with Psychic-type so is a great bet to do well here against Machamp too), and a powerful Fairy-type Pokemon like Togekiss or Gardevoir (to deal with Shadow Latios and Machamp).

It’s worth noting that if Giovanni defeats you once, you can demand a rematch at the same location and he will send out the same team again – which will help you prepare better. See our full thoughts below!

Best Persian counters in Pokemon Go

Being a Normal-type Pokemon, Persian is very weak against Fighting-type attacks. Any Fighting-type move that you dish out should do 160 per cent extra damage. With this in mind, something like Machamp or Lucario would be a strong counterattack choice! Lucario’s Power-Up Punch or Machamp’s Cross Chop would both be solid attacks to use against Persian.

One thing you will not want to use is a Ghost-type Pokemon. Persian has a resistance to these ghoulish creatures, with their attacks doing 39 per cent less damage to Persian. So don’t use any of those!

Best Machamp counters in Pokemon Go

Machamp is a Fighting-type Pokemon, which means it is vulnerable against Flying, Fairy, and Psychic-type attacks. Don’t use a Rock, Ice, Dark, Steel, or Normal-Type Pokemon against Machamp, mind, as it will be strong against any of them and dish out some major damage.

Togekiss is a good bet here as its Fairy-type attacks will work wonders against Machamp and Shadow Latios. Mewtwo is a good pick too thanks to its powerful Psychic-type moves.

Read more on Pokemon:

Best Nidoking counters in Pokemon Go

Being a Ground and Poison-type Pokemon, Nidoking presents something of a challenge, since it’ll be resistant to Bug, Electric, Fairy, Poison, Rock and Fighting-type moves. None of those attacks will do full damage here.

Nidoking’s weaknesses are Ground, Ice, Psychic and Water-type Pokemon, so you’ll want to bring something along those lines with you. We’d maybe rule out Ground, though, since your Ground Pokemon will also be weak against Nidoking’s Ground-type moves.

What do we recommend in terms of counters, then? Well, it might be wise to bring a powerful Water-type like Blastoise or Kyogre with you, just in case Nidoking does make an appearance.

Best Rhyperior counters in Pokemon Go

As Rhyperior is a Rock and Ground-type Pokemon you will need to bring a good Water-type or Grass-type Pokemon to counter it. Both Water and Grass-type attacks will deal loads of damage to Rhyperior. Steel, Fighting, Ground, and Ice-type moves will be useful too, with Fighting-type good for taking down Persian, too. Flying, Bug, Fire, Ice, Poison, Steel, and Electric-type Pokemon are weak against Rhyperior.

We recommend Torterra here as it’s just a great pick thanks to its powerful Grass-type attacks. Mega Gyarados is a good pick for the Water-type as its Dark-type attacks will also help counter Shadow Latios.

Best Shadow Latios counters in Pokemon Go

Shadow Latios is a Dragon and Psychic-type Pokemon so it will be weak to Ghost, Bug, Ice, Dragon, Dark, and Fairy-type attacks. Don’t use a Dragon, Fighting, or Poison-type Pokemon against Shadow Latios as they will be weak against its attacks.

The best counters against Shadow Latios will be Gengar, with its speedy Ghost-type attacks a good strategy against the Legendary Pokemon. Togekiss or Gardevoir are good counters, too, as Fairy-type resists Dark-type and is powerful against both Dark and Dragon-Type. Fairy-type Pokemon will work nicely against Machamp, too.

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